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O B E R L I N 



AMERICAN CONFLICT. 



AN ADDRESS DELIVERED BEFORE THE ALUMNI OF OBERLIN 
COLLECxE, AT THEIR RE-UNION, WEDNESDAY, AUG. 23, I8G5. 



By Prof. J. M. ELLIS. 




OBERLIK, 0: 

PRINTED AT THE "KEWS" OFFICE, 
i o o ^ 








Class__E5:ft_L 






O B E R L 1 N 



AMERICAN CONFLICT. 



AN ADDRESS DELIVERED BEFORE THE ALUMNI OF OBERLIN 
COLLEGE, AT THEIR RE-UNION, WEDNESDAY, AUG. 23, 1860. 



By I>iof. J. ]M:. 



ELLIS. 



Ladies and Gentlemen, Alumni of 
Oberlin : 

The five years which have passed 
since our last gathering have been per- 
haps the most eventful five years known 
to history. 

Certainly no period of our country's 
history can be compared with this 
semi decade just past, for the stupendous 
changes which have been wrought, and 
the settlement of issues which will af- 
fect coming generations and the future 
condition of the whole human family. 
And we may well question whether, 
since the appearance of the world's Re- 
deemer, the history of any five years 
can furnish a parellel. If, when we 
were last assembled here, a prophetic 
voice had predicted the events which 
were just before us, the tremendous 
struggle which we wero to undertake, 
the vast treasure which was to be ex- 
pended, the sea of blood which was to 
crimson the land, and the sacrifices, 
mourning and suffering which were to 
visit every household, who of us would 
have had the faith or the courage to 
have accepted the prediction and calm- 
ly awaited the issue 1 Yet we have 
passed through it all, and never felt, in 
its full reality, the grandeur and im- 
portance of tbe struggle. A wiser fore- 
sight than ours has tempered the storm 
to our weakness, and, by vlisaster and 



delay, by strength developed in one 
struggle for the next, educated us to 
meet it in its wildest fury. Out of the 
darkness and tempest, we are sailing in- 
to the quiet harbor of peaf'e. The vic- 
tory has been won. It is a victory 
which surpasses the brightest dreams of 
the enthusiastic lover of libertj'. 

It is fit that the circumstances of the 
hour should give color tu our meeting, 
and 
day. 

We celebrate not merely the achieve- 
ments of our arms for the four years 
past, but no less the victory of the 
moral conflict which for a half century 
preceded and culminated in the conflict 
of arms. It is the settlement of what 
has justly been styled, the American 
Conflict, As all parties now adnait, it 
has been the conflict of Freedom with 
Slavery. It has been the war for the 
rights of man as man, against the usurp- 
ation of a boastful, conceited aristocracy. 
The seeds of it were planted with the 
first settlement of the country, and the 
contest has waged with varyiu'r intensi- 
ty and success through all our history. 

It was thought desir.ble by those who 
bad the care of arranging for the exer- 
cises of this occasion that something 
should be said of the part which Ober- 
lin has borne in this American coiflict. 
In this, our family circle, it may not be 



-Oz.'c.^ 



unbecoming to speak somewhat freely 
of what the children have done. It 
will not seem boastful for us to review 
the work which wa<j undertaken in the 
dark days, in the midst of discourage- 
ment and opposition and obloquy, and, 
rejoicing in the glorious issue, learn a 
lesson of trust in the Good Hand which 
prompted that work, and has now giv- 
en the success. Nor will it be unsea- 
sonable to ipeak of the more recent 
achievement* of those who have gone 
frnm these halls to the battle field. 
These reminiscences naturally and prop- 
erly come first to our minds on this 
occasion. 

It is impossible not to contrast the 
state of the public mind and the posi- 
tion of the great Anti -slavery movement 
now, with that «f twenty years ago. — 
Most of us here have lived to see the 
principles which made Oberlin a hiss- 
ing and a by-word, and oil connected 
with Oberlin objects of suspicion and 
pity, or of fierce abuse and insult, tri- 
umphant throughout the land. We 
should seem ungrateful, if we did not 
recall ths past and take courage for the 
future. 

The early antislavery history of 
Oberlin has been fully and ably pre- 
sented on former occasions, and does 
not require to be repeated in detail. — 
An outline of the main features of the 
work is all that can be in place now. 
Although the able author of the Amer- 
ican Covflid has made no mention of 
any agency or influence in this struggle 
from Oberlin, still I think the reputa- 
tion which we have had for twenty-five 
years*, North and South, with friends 
and foes, justifies the belief that Ober- 
lin has had an influence in the struggle, 
by no means insignificant or temporary. 

If the abolitionists were chargeable 
with bringing on the war, we certainly 
had a hand in it, and are verily guilty. 
Indeed, a large portion of those who 
have heard of Oberlin have known of 
it simply in its anti-slavery character. 
It is probably the common opinion that 
the anti-slavery work was the primary 
work and cause of the enterprise. — 
Those who are better informed know 
that this work has been only incidental. 



It has been simply a part of the general 
work of love and benevolence toward 
all men, which has been inculcated here 
from the beginning. 

Oberlin was never a pUce of one ideal 
And the Anti-slavery movement her© 
never carried its advocates even into 
the vicinity of those extreme and dan- 
gerous doctrines which shipwrecked 
some of the earliest and ablest champi- 
ons of liberty. The come-outers and 
extreme radicals who put reform in the 
place of the gospel, found no where 
sterner opponents than here, in this hot 
bed of abolitionism. The question of 
slavery and anti-slavery did not in fact 
enter into the original plan of the colo- 
ny and school at all. It was not then a^ 
question before the country. But the 
anti -slavery character grew from the- 
principles of self denial and benevolence 
on which the school was founded, a» 
naturally as a tre^. yields its fruits 
Good will to men and devotion to im- 
proving and saving them was the great 
end which brought the Fathers from 
comfortable homes and positions of in- 
fluence and honor in New P^ngland, to 
lay in the forests of the wilderness 
foundations of institutions that might 
bless the broad West. The whole 
community was composed of those who 
had sacrificed their personal ease and 
prospects at the call of duty. And 
when the question of our duties to the 
slave was presented and fairly consider- 
ed, the colony naturally arrayed itself 
on the side of the oppressed. The An- 
ti-slavery cause was put on the same 
footing with the Missionary work, with 
the Temperance reform, with the duty 
of economy and self-denial for sending 
the gospel and enlightenment to the 
poor as well as the rich, and all the du- 
ties growing out of the law ot love to 
our neighbor. And there the subject 
has always been placed by Oberlin men 
—as one department of Christian duty. 
The question was mada practical at an 
early day by the decision of the Trustees 
of the College to admit students to 
equal privileges without regard to color. 
This was a great step in its day, and 
created as earnest discussion, and, on 
the part of some, as gloomy misgiv- 
ings as the question of negro suEfrage in 



3 



onr time. This settled the anti-slavery 
character of the place. 

The arrival of the Cincinnati rebels, 
jiist from their furnace of afflicliou, in- 
tensified the elements, and twenty 
nights of burning elotjuence from a 
youthful champion of the slave, who is 
with us to-day — with a quarter of cen- 
tury of new experience — to rejoice in 
the. triumph of the cause of his youth, 
stamped the new principles indelibly 
upon the place. 

It was not merely in its anti-slavery 
character that Oberlin was opposed to 
the power that made war upon the na- 
tion. The opposition was mors deeply 
seated and fundamental. That pwwer 
was aristocratic and exclusive. Ober- 
lin was essentially popular and demo- 
cratic. It was its grand aim to furnish 
education to the masses. It opened 
its doors to the poor, ibepoverof the 
rebellion was with the rich. And thus 
the influence of the work here was in 
direct antagonism with the spirit of 
caste and pride which characterized the 
slave power North and South. 

And further, it was a radical doctrine 
here that labor was honorable, and the 
laborer worthy of any position which 
society could oiler him. Learning and 
Labor is the motto of the College in- 
scribed upon its seal, and s-iving tone to 
the whole movement. Manual labor 
was at the beginning not only respected, 
but made a part of the training, and 
from the beginning to this d.-^y, this re- 
spect has been maintained. The high- 
est positions in scholarship and in the 
esteem of teachers and students have 
always been open to and oftenest won 
by those who earned their bread with 
the sweat of the brow. The great mass 
of all the ten thousand who have gone 
forth from these schools, have gone 
with this respect for honest toil, in-bred 
by precept and practice, ard carried in- 
to ail parts of the land an influence to 
foster and create the same respect eve- 
rywhere. And so, by what power she 
had, Oberlin has opposed the growing 
strength of the slaveholding aristocracy 
which despises labor and the laborer. 
The faction which lifted its hand to 
overthrow our free institutions degraded 
labor and the laborer to the place of a 



chattel, to be the property of capital. 
They looked with equal contempt upon 
the greasy mechanics of the North and 
the whip driven slave of the South. 

The influence of the place in this 
moral warfare has been made effective 
in various fields and by diverse agencies. 
At an early day the long winter vaca- 
tions were improved by the more ad- 
vanced students, as well as by teachers, 
in lecture tours through this and neigh- 
boring states. Where ever the cause of 
the slave could obtain a hearing, their 
voices were raised in his behalf. Dis- 
trict school houses, town halls, and oc- 
casionally a meeting house were opened 
to them, or by them, and the truth un- 
thought of and often unwelcome, was 
urued upon all who would listen. And 
it was often not a mere war of words. 
The violence of the barbarism was not 
inactive even at that early day. The 
lecturer often went out with his life in 
his hand. The most moderate utter- 
ances of anii-slavery sentiment were 
greeted with angry threats and bitter 
perFonal abuse. The assemblies were 
broken up by mob violence, the speak- 
ers were personally maltreated, and not 
infrequently put in peril of their lives. 
There were but few in any place who 
dared to befriend them. These men 
were not fanatics or extremists. Their 
views would seem to be moderate and 
temporizing now. There are those 
here to-day who can tell more of those 
days of trial with their scenes of frenzy 
and outrage than I can relate. When 
they recall those perilous and despised 
labors, and the midnight in which they 
were performed, and compare it with 
the grand triumph of to-day, they can 
hardly believe what their eyes have 
seen. They will surely say t'> us, who 
are younger than those scenes, that we 
may expect anything hereafter. Our 
brightest dreams will scarce equal what 
we may yet hope to see in nality. 

But these early workers did not con- 
fine t'leir efforts to public har.ingues and 
the general advocacy of the truth. — 
They did not merely open the doors of 
the college and proffer education to the 
despised race. They went out to look 
them up and lift them up wherever 
they were to be found. Cultivated k- 



dies of senKitive delicacy and refioe- 
metit went from Oberlin to Cincinnati, 
and opened schools for colored children, 
when they could not find a lespectahle 
white family in the city in which 
to board. Throughout this state and 
the neighboring states, teachers went 
out to- this neglected and oppressed 
class, and everywhere they went to 
meet with obloquy and opposition from 
most of the com'Tiunity. The effect of 
this work was not cotjfinpd to the ad- 
vantage it furnished for tha colored 
people to learn, hut more extensive and 
powerful was its influence in calling at- 
tention to the wrong which we were 
doing to this class, and the enormity 
of the crime which held them in igno- 
rance and degradation. We can never 
know all t'le harvest of that seed time. 

Then with the lecturing and teaching 
went the influence of an anti-slavery 
Gospel. The ministers who were sent 
forth from Oberlin, went with the 
Gospel for the po.>r, and fully imbued 
with the conviction that they were not 
to spare any iniquity in high places or 
)ow. It was seldom that there was 
cue, even of the most earnpst, who 
made the sir. of slavery especially prom- 
inent. It was set down, with all other 
wrongs, among the flagrant violations 
of the great law f love. It was called 
by name and rebuked without fear. — 
The duties of Chti.-*tiar;s to the slave 
-were put on the same fooling with du- 
ties to the disti-int heathen. The ques- 
tion sometimes disturbed the peace of 
the churches. There was vso much fear 
of touching the ^^ubject, and so much 
political and social complicity with the 
iniquity in nearly all the churobe-s, that 
the bare mention of it in the most mod- 
<8rate form in the puljMt could hardly 
be toleiated. Sora«time.«, perhaps, 
more discretion and charity might have 
been employed in dealing with the sub- 
ject. But of the honesty and good in- 
tention and self-forgetfulness of those 
who pressed this uowelcome truth, 
there can be no question. 

And no more can there be doubt as to 
the extent and ultimate benefit of the 
Jesuits of their labors. Churches were 
divided, and hard words were sjjoken. 
But Uie stupor and indifference towards 



this great iniquity wer,- dissipated. 
Men's consciences were quickened. 
Discussion was aroused. Light shone 
where there had been darkness. Opin- 
ions were changed, and years ago the 
distinction between the free churches 
and the old church disappeared. All 
the churches ot our order took ground 
quite up to that which in the beginning 
seemed so dangerous and radical. 

To meet what was thought to be a 
demand for a free gospel at home and 
abroad, the American Missionary 
Association was organized. 

Oberlin furnished its Foreign Secretary 
and a large portion of its Missionaries. 
Under its patronage, Oberlin students 
carried the war into Africa, established 
free churches in the slave states, and 
laid the foundation for schools open to 
all. They carried the doctrines of the 
golden rule to the dark borders of the 
Free states . and to the Indians on the 
west. They did something in Africa 
toward cutting off th:j supplies of the 
slave trade, and resisting the further 
extension of the system. Oberlin may 
take some crfdit for what ever of good 
that Association has accomplished, and 
DOW in its day of prosperity, under the 
able direction of two of her children, 
with half a continent for its field of 
work, and the whole body of Congrega- 
tional Churches for its supporters, Ober- 
lin rejoices and blesses God for what 
it has wrought. 

In the political field, the influence of 
Oberlin has not been insignificant. It 
was never heresy here to preach poli- 
tics. The Moral philosophy taught 
here does not distinguish between moral 
duties and political duties. Political 
action was a part cf every man's religion. 
And so the influence of the place was 
at the beginning cast for the Third party, 
which was the product of the manifest 
subserviency of both of the great politi- 
cal parties to the slave power. At the 
first election in which the Third party 
presented a ticket in 1840, all but & 
small minority of the votes of this 
place, by citizens and students, were 
cast for James G. Birney for President, 
and at every election since that minori- 
ty has grown relatively less. The po- 
litical power of the community was 



tnore efficient from the fact that it held 
the balance of power between the two 
old parties in the county, and was thua 
able to exercise a controlling influence 
in theselect'on of candidates for Legis- 
latnre and Congress. A member of the 
Lesisiature, one of the Trustees of the 
College, elected p.iriially through the 
influence of this place, held a similar 
biilance «f power between the parties in 
the Legislature, and used it to send 
Salmon P. Chase to the U. S. Senate. 
It is a salisfaclion to remember that 
from that day to this, the itfluence of 
that distinguished man, in a continuous 
series of responsible public posiiions, 
has never failed to be given for freedom 
and equal justice to all. And we may 
rfijoicB to-day that, by the strange provi- 
dence of God, we had any part in 
bringing such a man to the high seat 
which he now holds, on whose decision 
mure than upon any other person may 
depend ihe final issues in this conflict of 
freedom and slavery. 

In more recent times, one of our 
Professors, who had been distinguished 
from liis youth for his ability and zeal 
as an atiti-slavery lecturer, has been 
elected repeatedly to the State Legisla- 
ture, and exerted a leading and con- 
trolling influence in the political action 
of the state. Another has labored in 
season and out of season in moulding 
and creating ri^ht public sentiment on 
the great questions of these times, and 
exerted an influence not confined lo the 
state lines. Both of these men are now 
representatives of the iiaiion and of 
Oberlin in Foreign courts. 

But none of these special agencies or 
dep-utinents of labor illusirate or em- 
body the greatest power of Oberlin in 
the coiiflict with the elaveholding spirit. 
The lecturing, colored schools, anti- 
slavery preaching, ami political action 
are the tangible and more obvious re- 
sults and agencies. But more effective 
and more extensive than any or all of 
these, bus been, the silent influence of 
the practical equality and freedom from 
prejudice which have been here illus- 
trated. The colored man has been 
recog'iized and treated as a man. In 
the school he was early put on an 
equality with his white brother. Abroad 



this fact excited more commeiit and 
more discussion and opposition than all 
the others combined. And here it 
changed the prejudices and sentiments 
of the great mass of all who came under 
its power. It has not been acti-slavery 
preaching or anti slavery instruction in 
the school, or in public lectures that af- 
fected the thousands that have thronged 
hire for learning. It has been the nat- 
ural effect of meeting the colored man 
in the class room, seeing his ability and 
humanity, meeting him in discussion 
and feeling bis po ver, of treating him 
as a man, that has wrought the change. 
And this influence has been potent and 
effective on the great miijority of all 
who have studied here. As a rule, the 
students from Oberlin have been found 
on the right side, through all this previ- 
ous struggle. Whatever their prejudices 
or education, few havespentany consid- 
erable time here and gone away the 
enemy of the colored man and the 
friend of his oppressors. They have 
carried with theiu into every part of 
the country the impressions and views 
which their experience hero taught 
them. And this has been by far the 
weightiest blow which Oberlin has 
wielded in the struggle. It is safe to 
say that ten thousand advocates for the 
oppressed against the oppressor hive 
gone forth from these lialls. Th«y 
have been men and women of more than 
ordinary education and enterprise, — 
They hava had the influence which 
knowledge gives. As teachers, lawyers, 
men of business, farmers, and in every 
sphere of activity, they have made 
their influence felt. Who will estimate 
its results ? Figures will not compute 
them. The forces are net material or 
tangible, and the out-come cannot be 
told. 

The warfare with th'3 iniquity has 
not always beun confined to these peace- 
ful and moral agencies. Before a gun 
was fired at Sumpter, the slave power 
had sought its ends and st^cured its 
victims by violence and force. 

Besides the mobs which endeavored 
to si.ence the early ditcussion and ad- 
vocacy of the truth, and intimidate the 
friends of liberty, the spirit of slavery 
wreaked its fury on a number of the 



6 



fearly stuc^ehts of Oberlin',- ^fio dared to 
encounter the anger of the beast in hiff 
own lair. One was cast into prison in 
Missouri, another for many weary 
yea's was torlured in the Penitentiary 
of Kentucky, and a lady, in the same 
state, tor alleged assi-tance to a fugitive 
was chivalrously cast into prison with 
the lowest felons. 

A missionary, who had gathered 
about him a con<:regaiion and was 
preaching to them with great acceptance 
and success in the hills of Kentucky, 
was waylaid by a conspiracy, disgrace- 
fully maltreated, and barely escaped 
with his life, because he had dared to 
speak a word for llie slave. Others 
were driven from the same state as the 
storm of the rebellion was culminating. 

The Kansas war was largely aided 
by recruits and money from Oberlin. 
And among the first ministers whose 
voices were heard in the Territory were 
those who had gone from this place. 
Some of them fought through the battle 
there, first with the Bible, and when 
that failed with Sharpe's rifle, and are 
at their posts yet. 

In harboring and helping forward the 
fugitive, more than in other work, 
Oberlin came into direct conflict with 
the slaveholder. This was always a 
prominent station on the Under-ground 
R. R., while that Co. was in existence. 
It was in this character that the place 
was known throughout all the South 
which furnished passengers for the 
above route. In this business, the 
minions of the slave power frequently 
came in contact not to say in conflict 
with the peaceful and peaceable inhab- 
itants of this village. No case of vio- 
lence, of bloodshed, or blows, so far as 
I know, ever occurred. But every arti- 
fice of warfare was practiced on both 
sides. The best ingenuity was taxed 
to deliver the hunted fugitive from the 
hands of the pursuer. There were spies 
in the heart ot the camp, and the mas- 
ter was sometimes detained at the door 
while the slave escaped from a window, 
and sometimes even had his hands up- 
on his victim, ' ut no slave was ever 
carried back from Oberlin to his fetters 
again. 

Even the tyrannical power of the 



i'ugitiye Slave Law, enforced with the 
a-nthority of the general government, 
failed to secure a victim. The memory 
•J the Wellington rescue case is fresh in 
the minds of all. The fugitive, already 
in the hands of his pursuers, was res- 
cued, as a noted general proposed to 
crush the rabeliion, by a show of force 
and the awe of numbers. The occa- 
sion was seized upon by the slave pow- 
er which inspired and controlled the 
Federal Government, as a fit one to ad- 
mmister a lesson to the freedom loving 
Reserve ai.d a final quietus upon the 
troublesome activity of Obtirlin. There 
is no time to recount the history of the 
attempt. The forces were mustered, 
a large number, including a Professor 
in the College, the superintendent of 
the S. S., a lawyer, and other business 
men were indicted, arrested, thrown in- 
to jail. One was tried, convicted and 
sentenced for the violation of the Fugi- 
tive Slave Law. The spirit of North- 
ern Ohio was aroused. This odious law 
was detested more profoundly than 
ever. All who were eng^iged in its 
execution were under the bitterest op- 
probrium of the best part of the com- 
munity. When finally the people 
gathered in mass in tlie city of Cleve- 
land, and gave expression to their indig- 
nation, and six hundred S. S. scholars 
went to carry their greetings to their 
superintendent in jail, and the witnesses 
from Keniucky became alarmed for 
their own safety, being indicted in the 
County Court for kidnapping, and like- 
ly to visit the Penitentiary themselves, 
the pressure became too strong to be 
resisted. The Prosecuting Attorney 
gave up the cases, the Rescuers came 
home triumphant. The blow of the 
slaveiower had recoiled upon its own 
head, and it was more thoroughly hated 
and abhorred than ever. The Repub- 
lican parly of the state was lifted to a 
new and higher platform, and consoli- 
dated in its opposition to the growing 
iniquity of the land. 

It is but a step from the Fugitive 
Slave Law to the open rebellion which 
it preceded. The same spirit which 
demanded the obsequious and humili- 
ating assistance of the North in slave 
catching which that law commanded, 



demanded secession aLd wholesale rob- 
bery ten years later. The effect of the 
war which was inaugurated at this peri- 
od, upon the College, and the part 
which the Alumni and students of the 
College have borne in its achievements, 
are matters too recent to be counted 
bistorical. But it is not an inappropri- 
ate time to review briefly these facts, 
and gain some just idea of what we have 
really done. 

Oberlin, with the rest of the loyal 
country, had not believed that there 
would be war. The first gun upon 
Sumpter was au unwelcome surprise. 
The call for troops followed, and at 
once the question of adjusting affairs to 
a state of war became a practical neces- 
sity. It was not to be expected that a 
place which had been so long and ac- 
tively engaged with the slave power 
would be an idle or indifferent specta- 
tor, when the National Government took 
up the contest and called for help.— 
Those who had sneered years before, 
now tauntingly remarked, Oberlin has 
been valiant in words, let us see how 
she will stand when it comes to deeds. 
Thanks to the patriotism of her sons, 
old and new, she has mnde good her 
teaching in the deadly breach. The 
moral heroes of the early days are well 
matched in the soldiers "of to-day. 
No school in t 'e country, probably, has 
been so deeply affected by the demands 
of the war. Certainly none of the col- 
leges of equal age and stability. And 
none have a prouder record. The 
authorities of the College never felt at 
liberty to urge those who were under 
their cart to enter the irray. They en- 
deavored to sustain the relation of par- 
ents to the student, and to keep duly 
in mind the importance of sustaining in 
vigorous operation a school like tbis, 
which should prepare laborers for ihe 
harvest field which the war was lik«Iv 
to open, as well as the value of edu- 
cated young men, and the imp.)rtance 
of using their talent wisely. Yet, when 
the country called, and the great issue 
was being made up^ they did not dare 
to throw any obstacle in the way of a 
hearty and prompt response. The 
spirit of patriotism and devotion to sav- 
ing the ntlioD has never lagged. It was 



warm and effective from the first and 
only required to be directed and re<»u- 
lated. 

The first act of the Faculty was to 
suspend the law long in force that no 
student should become a member of 
any military company. Permission was 
given for a meeting of students in 
which citizens also participated, to con- 
sider what measures should be taken to 
respond at once to the President's call 
for 75 001) men. At a second mee/ing, 
the roll was opened for enlistments for 
three months, A large numbr of 
names were enrolled, and $10,000 were 
pledged by the citizens of the place to 
assist in furnishing and sustaining those 
who should go. The interest was so 
intense that the enrollment list was 
sought out during the next day, which 
was Sunday, by multitudes eager to get 
an early place on it, and Monday morn- 
ing fou..d one hundred and thirty names 
enrolled for a company whose maxi- 
mum was supposed to be eighty. one. 
The press was so great that a second 
company was organized and its roll soon 
filled in the same manner. And it was 
not a mere fancy or excitement that ef- 
fected the result. It, was serious, sober 
principle ol the part of a large portion, 
at least,^ Two instances will illustrate 
the spirit of even the youngest. 

The names of all students passed un- 
der the inspection of a committee of 
the Faculty, who took from the roll 
any who were minors and could not or 
had not consulted with their parents or 
guardians as to the step, I shall never 
forget the appearance of two young 
men who came before the committee to 
remonstrate with them tor erasing' 
their names. One, apparently a mere 
boy, was the son of an early settler in 
Ober.in, whose friends were then in the 
distant East. With half angry and 
half tearful emotion, he inquired why 
his name was withheld. He was told 
of the importance of securing his 
parent's consent in so serious step. "Mv 
mother taught me from my childhood 
to hate slavery, and iuf-tiUed into my 
mind the very principles for which we 
are now called to fight, and I l-now she 
will not call me from fulfilling her in- 
strucliond cow. I must go, aud I mun 



go now. If 1 caunofc go with this corn • 
pany, I must enlist elsewhere." A.nd 
so he went. His health suffered, and 
he was taken home, but his energy re- 
mained, and against all obstacles he was 
boon in the work again, and good ser- 
vice did he do on many a field. 

The other was a quiet, pale-faced 
youth, seuthere by ladies of Mr. Beech- 
er's church, to prepare for the min s- 
try. Brought up in the store and school, 
he appeared as frail and delicate as a 
woman. With eraotlns Lot to be sup- 
pressed, he inquired why he had been 
cut off. The reply that he was not 
able to go, aLd that he ought not to 
abandon his patrons without their 
knowledge, did not change his purpose 
or diminish his ardor. He hastened to 
the telegraph, sent an earnest despatch, 
and waited anxiously a reply. It was 
two days when, with i^lowing counte- 
nance, he brought us the answer. "Gb, 
and God bless you." With willing 
heart he went, and wiih all his soul ha 
became a t-oldier. He soon rose from a 
private to the command of his company, 
the best soldier nerhaps, which it coi'i- 
tained, and beJoie a year had passed, 
he was brought back 'from the field of 
Winchester and we laid him to rest on 
yonder hill. 

Atjd so it u„6 with all. There was 
never a thought ot position or pay.— 
Theological. College and Preparatory 
student and citizen stood on the same 
ieve!. A member of the Faculty, the 
Tutor of Latin, was elected Oajitain. 
'I'he scenes which transpired as that 
Company prepared to leave can never 
pass from m^injy — the class gjther- 
ings, the prayer meetings, wheie lips 
unused to pr lyer were U'isealed and 
numbers enii.sied as soldiers of Christ. 
It was a revival season blessed to those 
who went and those who staid behind. 
For the only time during the war, the 
regular operations and lecitations ol the 
college were intennjUed. The whole 
communily joined to'fi' out the soldiers 
with becoming and comfortable uni- 
lortns. It was a solemn event when all 
the people gathered at the depot to bid 
that band adieu. Wo were sending 
them to untried, but real dangers.— 
Though ihey were going but for a few 



weeks, we knew they would not all 
come back. The second company was 
not accepted and soon disbanded.— 
That first Co. was mora peculiarly ours 
than any other has been, and its history 
WAS watched with profonnder interest. 
It was composed almost entirely of 
students and of the best students which 
the College could furnish. It became 
a part of the 7th Reg. O. V. I., com- 
manded by Col. E. B. Tyler, and will 
always be known here as " Co, C." 
They were soon called upon to enlist 
for three years or for the war. This 
was the most serious question which 
had presented itself. Should they give 
up the purpose of their life to secure an 
education on which they had already 
spent the best years of' their jouth J 
There were those who had consjcrated 
themselves to the work of the Mission- 
ary, and others to preaching the Gospel 
at home, and were now almost at the 
goal] It was my fortune to ba with 
them in Camp when this quRstion was 
being decided. And I know of the 
conflicts and struggles through which 
the most earnest and conscientious often 
passed. It was an experience to be re- 
membered, those moral heroes making 
the decision of their life or death. It wa's 
simply a question of what was duty, and 
the world never witi;essed anoblerexhi- 
tion of disinterested self-sacrifice. The 
battles were all fought and the victory 
won in that decision. They gave their 
lives and their all when the large major- 
ity of the 101 gave in their names for 
the war. There is no time to follow 
them in detail through their eventful 
history. Four years ago today as wo 
were celebrating these anniversaries, 
and eulogizing the patriotism of this 
devoted band, the Telegraph brought 
the tidings that they had been surprised 
by over-powering numbers, two of their 
officers ylain, and the Company well 
nigh annihilated, at Cross L,Hnos, Wes- 
tern Va. We had not learned equanim- 
ity then, or to receive with large allow- 
ance the first accounts of disister. And 
thi.H report cast a gloom over all our fofi 
tivi;ies and brought a heavy sadnesi to 
many a househuld of Oberlin. It wa< 
many days before the truth was known, 
and though far from as disastrous ai at 



first reported, the result was 3ad enough. 
The Captain was unhurt, but cap- 
fiured with over thirty of his Conopany. 
.A number were wounded. Two of 
these died within a few days ; Jeakina 
and Collins. They were our first mar- 
tyr:J, and the sacrifice seemed a great 
one. The former, a model Christian 
scholar, was a member of the gradua- 
ting class, and h\^ name was being call 
ed for the First Degree here, as he was 
summoned to a higher honor in another 
sphere. The rest of the Company es- 
caped, and after strange experiences of 
hunger atjd daog-r and wandering for 
days and weeks in the mountains of 
Virginia, they mot again in our lines. 
The captives experienced all the rigor 
and abuse and insults of the haughty 
slave driver, already aggravated by the 
success at Ball Run. For twelve 
months they endured exposures and 
starvation which are only parallelled in 
the more recent barbarities too familiar 
to us. 

Two of the number fell victims to 
this cruelty. One of them in particular, 
\Vm. Watt Parmenter, a member of the 
Senior Class when he enlisteil, was a 
man of the greatest promise. He pos- 
se-sed talent of the highest order, and 
exhibited whi'e in the field qualities 
which would have given him, if he 
had baeij spared, a high position as a 
soldier, and made liim an honor to his 
Alma Mater and t'j his country. 

The Comjiany, notwitiistacdiug this 
serious blow made subsequently an il- 
lustrious record. Besides numerous 
sUinmshes it took active pan in a loog 
list of pitched battles. Among others 
at Winchester, Port Republic, Cedar 
Mountain, Antietira, The Wilderness, 
Dumfries, Ijookout Mountain and Ring- 
gold. It maintained the highest stand- 
ing for its bravery and suidierly con- 
duct, and w-is distinguished above all 
for its moral and reiigious character. I 
do m t recall an itistance in which a 
student frono Obarlin did not honor his 
name and the piiiicii)les here inculcated. 
Wlien their ranks had been thinned by 
capture and d'-aih, and they had passed 
through all the corrufting tendencits 
and temptations of their new life for a 
year, surrounded with Godless men 



and officers on every side, T saw them 
in their tents in the heart of Virginia, 
and nightly from the six tents of Co. 
C, went uo the voice of song and the 
voice of prayer, aa they bowed them- 
selves around their fumily altars. It 
was a s'range sound in a camp of thirty 
thousand men. They were known as 
the pr tying Company, and the fame of 
their meetings was spread through all 
that army. The list of mortality in 
the Company is a singular testimony to 
the value of temperate habits and in- 
tellectual training in securing power of 
endurance and the best soldierly quali- 
ties. During three years of the most 
arduous and active service, out of one 
hundred aLd fiftj' students, who were 
at different times members of Co. C, 
but three fell by disease, and two of 
those three died in Southern prisons. 
It is doubtful if the army can furnish 
many parallels. Twenty-eight fell in 
battle, fifteen were discharged on ac- 
count of wounds, and many other? 
wounded slightly. Fifteen were pro- 
moted to Commissioned oSicers in oth- 
er regiments. At the expiiaiion of its 
term of service, scarce a trace of its 
original composition remained. Its 
Captain after a twelvemonth's imprison- 
ment served with distinction, r's Inspec- 
tor General, on the staff of Geo. Wil- 
cox, was appointed Lient.-Col., and af- 
terwards Colonel of the 5th U. S. C. T., 
which officered almost etitirel}"- by 
Oberliu men, he made, with their 
help, one of tha best regiments in the 
service, and lately escaped a Brig. -Gen- 
eralship which was ou its way to liim, 
by returning to the work which he left 
here four years ago. Oihers of this 
Company gained personal distinction 
worthy of notice, did time permit. 
The history of Co. C is a part of the 
hi^tory of Oberlin. We have been hon- 
ored in its honor — we have wept its 
brave dead and novv follow its survivors 
w ih our g'atitude and admiration. 
This was Oberlin's fi'St couiribunon to 
the conflict, and it was watched with 
something of the pride and interest 
which belongs to the first horn. It was 
only the beginning ot many noble bac- 
rifices laid upon the same altar. A few 
months later Oberliu and vicinity sent a 



10 



Company to the 41st 0. V, I., and 
amoDo; them a former student who has 
occupied numerous posts of distinction, 
and if still at work on the staff of the 
Commander of the 4th Corps, with rank 
of Major. About the same time a num- 
ber of students and citizens entered the 
2J O. V. C, in which they fought from 
the Mississippi to the Indian Territory 
ftnd ail the way back along the whole 
line of the Confederacy to Danville, 
Va., and back again to the farther bor- 
ders of Missouri, One of them fell as 
the last blow was struck, which gave to 
Sheridan the victory at Five Forks aad 
Richmond and Lee's Army and the 
Confederacy. Two of them rose from 
privates to Captains, and a third from 
the same condition came to command 
the Regiment as Colonel, followed Sher- 
idan in his victorios of the valley of the 
Shenandoah — around Richmond and to 
the last grandest victory of all, receiv- 
ing the highest commendation from his 
Commanding-General, as standing 
among the very few best officers of his 
Division. 

The second year of the war another 
Company went from Oberlin, composed 
of citizens and students, under the com- 
mand of a graduate and a member of 
the Theological Department to join the 
103d Regiment. The Captain soon rose 
to the command of the Regiment, serv- 
ed wiih distinction in the campaigns iu 
Tennessee and Georgia, for the last vear 
acted as Provost General of Schofield's 
army, with his Regiment for guard, and 
brought back the brave survivors a few 
days ago to their homes. The same 
year when Cincinnati was threatened 
nearly all the College students, able to 
bear arms, with many preparatory stu- 
dents and citizens marched on a few 
hours notice, provisioned and equipped 
wi.h arms and ammunition, to the de- 
fense of the Queen City. For several 
weeks they encamped around abou' her 
and cast up defenses till the danger was 
passed, and they were sent home with 
honor. At such times the College dis- 
covered a new advantage in the joint 
education of the sexes, when the ladies 
almost alone kept the machinery of the 
classes in operation. We should often 
have been lonesome without them du- 



ring the four years past. In the year 
following, when Gen, Banks was driven 
down the Valley and Washington was 
in danger, another Company was sent 
out, commanded by students and large- 
ly composed of them. They were 
pushed at once to the front, relieved 
older regiments, had several skirmishes 
with the enemy, and were at last inclu- 
ded in the disgraceful surrender of Har- 
per's Ferry, which enabled the Rebels 
to escape at Antietam. And last year, 
when Ohio put her forty regiments into 
the field in less than two weeks, and 
enabled Gen. Grant to fight it out on 
that line to Richmond — and to the death 
of the Confederacy, Oberlin sent her 
Company, a second Co. C. They were 
joined with Cleveland to form the 150th 
Regiment of National Guards, and were 
almost the only company of the Guards 
in Virginia, who had a taste of fij;hting 
in the attack of Early upon Washing"- 
ton. They proved good metal, and 
man)' of them have since seen harder 
service in other regiments. Besides 
these companies, every call for troops 
has been answered by many from these 
halls. They went as privates and oiE- 
cers. Two commanded companies in 
the 105th Regiment, 0, V. I., one a 
company in the lOlh O. V, C, one as 
Major in the 12th O. V. C. In nearly 
every Western regiment they were to 
be found. 

Few Colleges were as sensitive to the 
calls of the country as ours. During 
the first two years it was a serious dis- 
turbance. The classes seemed oftoia 
likely to be entirely broken up, and on-* 
ly the presence of the ladies who could 
not volunteer, and great care, could keep' 
the spirit of the classes in working or- 
der. For the last two years we have 
learned to be more calm, and adjusted 
ourselves to the condition of waf, 80 
that there has been less disturbing force. 
The number of students has been re- 
duced on the average about one-third 
since the war began, being somewhat on 
the gain for the last two years. The 
decrease of gentlemen has been more 
than this, perhaps two-fifths. 

Among the Alumni of the College 
there has not been so large a number 
connected with the army, perhaps, as 



11 



we might expect from the members 
who have gone from the school itself. 
A very large proportion of the early 
graduates arc ministers and in other po- 
sitions from which few comparatively 
have been drawn into the army. But a 
good number will be found among the 
country's defenders from the Alumni. 
And if they lack anything in numbers, 
they will niiake it up in distinction and 
usefulness. Many are found as Chap- 
lains, a number as officers of Colored 
regiments. One commanded as Colonel 
an Iowa regiment, led them through 
the campaigns in Missouri and Arkan- 
sas, and for a year past has been dis- 
pensing justice as Judge of the Provost 
Court of the Department of Arkansas, 
greatly to the acceptance of the people 
and the restoration of order. 

Another was distinguished by notice 
in an order of the Commanding-Gener- 
al, for the bravery and skill with which 
he led his regiment in an attack on 
Richmoml. Another, a man of marked 
ability and great promise, having gained 
the distinction of being, by far, the best 
Captain of his regiment, fell in the 
charge upo'i Petersburgh. 

Another, of whom I must speak 
moderately, lest he should hear of it, 
was appointed Brig. -Gen. at the first 
alarm of war, labored night and day in 
organizing the first regiments from Ohio 
out of nothing, resiored south- wes- 
tern Virginia to the Union so that it 
has remained — led his army to the de- 
fence of Washington after ttie disastrous 
campaign of the Peninsula and of 
Gen. Pope — took command of the 9ch 
Army Corps on the death of Gen. Reno 
at South Mountain— commanded this 
corps, which formed the whole left wing 
(;f the army at the Battle of Antietara 
—drove the Rebels from Stone Bridge 
and up the hill-side for a mile or more, 
and would have finished them tne sec- 
ond day, if Gen. McClellan had said 
the word — was promoted by the Presi- 
ident to a M .jor-Generalship for distin- 
guished services in these two ba'tles 
hut dropped by the politicians in the 
Senate six months after, for the want of 
some one to manage the wires, I sup- 
pose — commanded in the Department 
of Ohio— led the 23d Army Corps un- 



der Burnside in Tennessee — followed 
Sherman in his three months battle into 
Georgia — was entrusted with the ad- 
vance across the Chatahoochee, which 
secured Atlanta a sure prize— comram- 
ded the rear of Thomaw' Army retreat- 
ing before Hood, dealt him the stunning 
blow at Franklin, which Gen. Thomas 
said saved Nashville and our whole 
army — aclieved what you all know in 
North Carolina, and is now detailed to 
take charge of the State of Ohio. We 
have, no occasion to be ashamed of him. 
It is impossible to state with exact- 
ness the number of persons connected 
with the army, who have at some time 
been students here. Every one who 
has been in the armies of the East or 
West knows that it was hard to go 
amiss of an OberUn man . Of those who 
have been members of the permaneni 
classes, we know with more certainty. 
Taking the catalogue of 1861, the first 
year of the war, we find that of 166 
genthmen in the four College classes, 
100, or 60 per cent , have been in the 
army as soldiers. We doubt if any 
college catalogue can show a better re- 
cord °than this. Ot Alumni and th-i 
under graduates in the College claises. 
wo count 197 who have served in 
the army. Among these, two Major 
Generals, one Urig. General, ten Colo- 
nels, and officers of lower grades in 
larger proporiion. Of those who have 
been connected with the Preparatory 
Department, our estimate can only ap- 
proximate the exact figures. Suppos- 
in'^' that those ol whom we do not 
kjow positirely have gone in the same 
proportion as those of whom .ve do 
know, we have not leas than 550 from 
tti'.s department, giving a total of 850 
of the representatives of Oberliu in the 
army. The great maiority of these en- 
listed without a selfish consideration. 
Even those who were far advanced in 
their course and many of whom had 
been leading men as teachers or preach- 
ers, entere i the ranks side by side with 
the ignorant and uncultivated sons of 
toil, "if the list of oliicers should be 
found disproportionately small, as I do 
not think it is, it would be accounted 
for by this fact. 

All of this Oberlin regiment have not 



12 



returned to a peaceful life in a redeemed 
cnuniry. We have a sad list of fallen 
heroes. 

Nut les? than ten per cent of all who 
have bet-ti coDne'-ted with the army are 
in tl is cata'ojjne. From seveiity-five 
to one hnndred must be counted with 
the slain. Voluii.fs might be written 
of theiichievementt^cfihis army of mar- 
tyrs. Oberliii has no occasion to bUish 
a: the record her sons have made on 
this hloody page of war. 
It is befitting th.it we join in doing honor 
tothft brave in our greetings tu-Jny. It 
is befitiirig that we make their valor 
and devotion the ground of onr reioic- 
ings and the theme of our remarks." It 
is onr good fortune to meet again many 
of these heroes in this re-irathering. 
Soldiers who h>ive survived the orde- 
al oi battle, and I may almost say of a 
hundred battles, we bid you welcome 
h'.rae again ! In beha.f of our Alma 
Mater whom you have honored, and all 
her children w hom you have saved, we 
extend to you sincere and hearty thanks. 
We owe everything to you ; our homes", 
ourscnools, our churches, our country 
—to you who stood between us and the 
burning tide of war. We owe it to you, 
that these f(ur terrible years have been 
Vfars of peace and quiet and prosperi- 
ty in all our homes. We owe it to 
you, that we may gather here to-day 
and recount the mercies of the past.— 
We owe to you the songs of liberty 
ai.d cf a redeemed land, which we are 
permitted to sing, and all the bright 
hopes which swell our hearts of a glori- 
ous future for this country of ourlove. 
It is a debt wo can never pay. We can 
only bring you the meed of our ad- 
miration and unfeigned gratitude. If 
ever we forget the services of those 
who have lought and suffered for us 
and ours, or cease to speak their praise, 
palsied be our tongue and perish our 
name, from the annals of men. 

But not to you only who have como 
back from this horrid carnage is this 
debt due. More sacred and more 
profound is onr obligation to the mem- 
ory of the 100 who will never come 
back They offered their all for us 
and the offering was accepted. They 
died for U3, and by their death we live 



Let us hot fail to enshrine their" 
memory m our deepest hearts and teach 
It to our children. Lot us not fail to 
honor their patriotism and valor by 
every sign and appropriate tribute 
which comes within our reach. Let us 
see to it that the movement which 
originated here and has been imitated 
by nearly every college in the land, of 
erecting to these honored dead a suita- 
ble monument, is carried to complete 
SUCC.SS. Itwill beourshameif uedoless. 
Nor would wo who are younger than 
the early days of the conflict, forget 
what we owe to the fearless pioneers 
who struck the first blows for liberty 
and a free country. Some of you have 
fought the good tight till your heads are 
silvered and your strength is failing. 
He owe to your fidelity and yoiTr 
courage hardly less than to ihe battle 
heroes who have followed vou. The 
sowers of the seed surely deserve no 
less praise than the in-gatherers of the 
harvest We thank you for the lessons 
of your faithfulness and devotion to 
the truth. In behalf of the four mill- 
ions who rejoice at last in the fullness 
of liberty, and in behalf of a nation at 
last washed of its guilty stain, we thank 
you. Sometime the world will learn 
to honor as they deserve those whom 
It once cast ou', and disdained. 

But our work is not done. The les- 
sons of self-sacrifice and patient toil 
for God's poor, taught by these Fathers, 
are the very lessons which now we 
need to learn and put in practice. The 
grandest and fairest field that ever 
opened to the lover of his race opens to 
us, and calls for our labors. The great- 
est and noblest work ever laid 'iipon 
Christian hearts is laid upon us. Never 
was there a more urgent appeal for all 
that IS good and useful in the work of 
tins school than comes to us to-day. 
Every consideration of love and duty 
demands that Obsrlin shall be enabled 
to continue her work with increased 
facilities and increased success. And 
80, taking courage from the stranc^e 
past, rejoicing in the grand triumphs 
of the present, a .d trusting in God for 
the issues of the future, let us gird our- 
selves for the new conflicts, and move 
on to still more glorious victories. 



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